OSCE reiterates that military parades in the Donbas on May 9th will violate the Minsk Agreements
The OSCE has once again stressed that the presence of heavy weapons during military parades in Donetsk and Luhansk on May 9th will be a violation of the Minsk Agreements, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
According to Alexander Hug, the Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, "historical heritage is important, but [the presence of] heavy weapons in the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk is a violation of Minsk and a threat to the people".
As previously reported, on April 20th the Ukrainian side of the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk warned Donetsk and Luhansk about holding the parade. "On the eve of May 9th celebrations we warn representatives of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that conducting the so-called parade of military equipment in Donetsk will be a direct and flagrant violation of the Minsk Agreements,” said the press secretary of the Ukrainian representative in the Trilateral Contact Group, Daria Olifer.
Olifer stressed that in accordance with the Minsk Agreements, all weapons should be withdrawn from the line of contact in places of permanent deployment. "And this withdrawal must be confirmed by the staff of the OSCE SMM," she noted.